@hersheyjack- I would have gone to Oregon if I had been accepted, but getting in as an OOS is next to impossible. I think there are 18 OOS spots and around a thousand or more people each year trying for those spots. Plus Oregon values undergraduate grades more than CSU, so my chances of getting in weren't high at all. Oregon has more hands-on opportunities and fewer students, so you get more one on one and more chances to learn, or so I've heard from recent graduates. Oregon has a lower case volume, though. Most of the students get to do quite a few surgeries- mostly spay/neuter so-before they leave, or so I've been told by Tess this summer when I toured the school and also by a recent graduate. My understanding is that they don't track at OSU, so you split your 4th year 50/50 small and large animal, something I'm not so into.
@bluenose (cute pups!!)- CSU has lots of cases and diverse cases, lots of cool technology and specialists in oncology, optho, cardio, neuro, etc- but competition to do things is pretty high. There are the other students that you're competing with to get to do stuff, but first in line are the interns and residents. So usually an intern or resident will get to do a procedure like tapping a chest vs a student. I've consistently heard 4th years talk about this. They sometimes feel more like they are being used as cheap help at the hospital than being taught the more complex stuff. It really depends on who you're working with, some of the residents/interns/faculty will try to incorporate the students in more than others and some will teach a lot more and ask the students probing question more than others. The students who hustle tend to get outside experience and then have more confidence to ask to do stuff at the hospital and seem to get more out of the experience. The students who feel insecure don't usually ask to try stuff and don't get to do as much. Being confident and assertive definitely helps with getting to do procedures. I'm expecting that I'll be responsible for ensuring that I come out of vet school with adequate practice at doing surgeries, but unfortunealy, I don't think CSU will give me that, so I'm gonna figure out other ways to get experience like externships. I wish vet school produced fully functioning, confident new vets, I mean, that's the outcome I was hoping all this tuition money would bring me if I were willing to put in the effort to learn, but I don't think that usually is the case. I wish CSU had surgeries happening earlier, like 2nd & 3rd year, and allowed students to do a variety of surgeries while being carefully monitored. There are outside programs, though that do give a student experience mostly in spay/neuter surgery, some even available to first years.
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